The Empress’s Gigolo

In the evening, the village hosted a bonfire party.

However, this party was hosted for the other visitors in the village.

Qi Ziting called Ren Baqian and the empress to a house.

Before Ren Baqian entered the house, he saw someone cooking the flower camel outside.

It was a three meter long black arthropod that resembled a scorpion. Ren Baqian was amazed at the bunch of red and white flowers that grew on its back.

He asked about it casually and learned that these animals were extremely rare and weren’t very strong.

It would normally dig a hole in the ground and hide there. The flowers on its back were able to create a hallucination to attract bugs and small animals that came to feast on those bugs. It would sometimes also attract the young of large animals that were merry-making nearby and prey on those young animals.

They saw a small table after they entered the house. Qi Ziting sat in the main seat on the inside with his crutches placed to the side.

Even though he was facing the empress of Dayao, he didn’t show the slightest bit of courtesy toward her.

He merely smiled at her and said, “I know that you don’t like noisy places, so you can eat here. They can have their meal and we can have ours here.”

He completely disregarded Ren Baqian’s presence.

Ren Baqian originally thought that problems would arise during dinner. However, Qi Ziting simply chatted with the empress about her childhood and laughed incessantly when they talked about happy moments.

“You were most afraid of the dark and of being alone when you were young. I never expected you to actually live alone in such a cold and empty palace, let alone for so many years.” Qi Ziting burst into laughter.

“I have gotten used to it after living there for some time,” the empress replied faintly. “Besides, it hasn’t been cold and empty for a long time.”

These words made Qi Ziting turn to Ren Baqian with a complex look.

Soon after, the cooked flower camel was served. Like crab meat, its meat was as white as snow. The meat looked like silk threads when it was torn apart. It was fresh, fragrant, and tasted extremely good and tender.

Immediately, Ren Baqian couldn’t help but to start digging in.

Naturally, he didn’t want to stop either. While the other two were talking, he simply helped himself to the food.

The alcohol that was served was a fruit wine brewed in the mountains. It had a muddy color and a poor presentation. Thankfully, the fruits from the mountains were sweet, so the taste of the wine was pretty good. Ren Baqian occasionally filled the empress’s cup when he saw that it was empty before pouring and enjoying it for himself.

“Have you located our previous emperor?” the empress asked after a few rounds of drinks.

There hadn’t been many records regarding the previous emperor. The people who knew about him had left together with him. Up until now, the empress still didn’t understand why they had left so suddenly.

Or rather, nobody knew what had happened, but all of them wanted to find out.

In spite of Qi Ziting’s past and the loss of his legs, it was impossible that he didn’t search for the previous emperor after returning to the Sixty Thousand Mountains.

“I have followed that path and searched for him for two years. I have been to the deepest villages, climbed the tallest mountains, and found some traces and corpses. After that, I came across some ferocious beasts that even a Cardinal Heaven expert would have problems dealing with. Even for me, I had to advance very carefully. It wasn’t until I saw those human-like things which weren’t human, that I had no choice but to return…”

“Human-like things which weren’t human?” Ren Baqian suddenly lifted his head.

This was the second time he heard this. He first heard about it from Qingyun Sword.

Or rather, it was Qingyun Sword’s master. He went into the Sixty Thousand Mountains back then and returned with severe injuries. His last words were to warn them about those things that looked like humans, but weren’t humans.

Those words had captured Ren Baqian’s attention back then, and he remembered them ever since. Now, Qi Ziting’s words had reminded him once more

Both of them looked at him in astonishment.

The empress asked him softly, “What do you know about this?”

“Lin Qiaole!” Ren Baqian replied. The empress immediately understood what he meant.

At the same time, Ren Baqian suddenly wondered if Lin Qiaole was sleeping as they spoke.

“Hey!” Qi Ziting smacked his lips and gave an inexplicable smile. “Is Lin Qiaole that kid whom Lin Yuhuan brought home? Nobody knows about her origin, and it seems like it struck a chord just now.”

“What is it?” Ren Baqian and the empress looked over at him.

“It could be something known as a chinchilla!”

“Pfff!” Ren Baqian almost threw up.

Chinchilla? The animal which looked like a rabbit and was extremely chubby?

Ha! No resemblance at all!

He thought about bringing a cage full of chinchillas back the next day to raise and play with.

Both of them gave Ren Baqian a weird look. He then immediately waved his hand and said, “I’m fine. We also have an animal called the chinchilla back at home. I doubt they are the same thing.”

He then thought to himself that Lin Yuhuan, or Librarian Lin, was a rather free-spirited name. She must have been a pretty charming person back then.

Unfortunately, time was like a butcher’s knife. Librarian Lin was now an eerie-looking old woman.

The empress pondered for some time and eventually asked a question that she had kept to herself for a long time. “Did father try to follow their tracks back then?”

“Don’t think too much about this. Don’t ever try to follow in our grandfather’s footsteps either,” Qi Ziting exhorted.

Ren Baqian felt a little strange as he looked at them. Qi Ziting didn’t seem to hate Qi Yinghao at all.

He wondered why those events had happened back then.

The empress kept her thoughts to herself and stopped asking since it truly wasn’t the right time to delve into this at the moment.

Based on her thinking, Ren Baqian’s life expectancy would definitely be lower than hers. She would probably only probe into these matters after his life came to an end and when she had less worries.

This drinking session stretched late into the night, and the trio finally put down their glasses after the noise outside had dissipated.

The empress was feeling slightly tipsy, and her face was blushing a little.

The alcohol content of this fruit wine wasn’t high, but it got to her head very easily.

“I wonder when the next time will be that I get to drink like this again.” Qi Ziting was also slightly flushed and felt a little sorrowful.

“Do you wish to come back and visit for my wedding?” At this point, the empress stopped addressing herself in a formal manner, and her voice sounded gentler. Allowing Qi Ziting to come back to Lan City was an extremely rare invitation.

“Kou Zhehai has always been thinking of you after all these years. He continues to feel that you are the one worthy of my position.”

After hearing this, Ren Baqian finally understood why Kou Zhehai and the empress weren’t on good terms.

“Since I have already left, I won’t be coming back. However, I still don’t understand why he insisted on letting you take that position back then.” The alcohol had gotten to Qi Ziting’s head.

The empress fell silent again.

After that, Ren Baqian butted in on their conversation and said, “It was because you would only destroy everything! In order to bring about a better quality of life, a leader has to have a constructive and merciful mind.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Ziting was originally going to rage, but eventually, he kept quiet.

After some time, he exclaimed, “That’s probably true. My little sister has a kind heart!”

He looked at Ren Baqian with tipsy eyes and said, “I’m only letting you sit here for my sister’s sake. I don’t like you! I utterly dislike you! Back in the day, I killed thousands of people like you!”

Ren Baqian smiled and said, “I brought Dayao a greater crop output, new seasonings, and resolved the ore mining problems at Mount Damo’s iron ore mine while boosting its production to more than 900 tons per year.

I have improved the steel smelting and forging process to produce more weapons with less manpower.

I have created cement, which takes away the need to chisel stones from mountains or to break rocks to repair walls.

I have created glass and mirrors, and if not for the ongoing war, these two products would be traded for boundless gold and silver in Great Xia and the Yun Nation.

I have achieved these things, but I can still do more. I have a bunch of students who were deemed as useless people in the eyes of the aboriginals, but who are now proficient in many fields.

They can’t fight, but they can construct.

They have improved a machine that can travel a few hundred kilometers in a day without the use of animals. Once the railroad is complete, it will only take three days to travel from Lan City to the Yun Nation.

They are in the midst of creating an electric generator that can light up Lan City’s entire night sky as well as do many incredible things.

I have brought all of these to Dayao.

If you were the emperor, none of these could have been possible! That’s why I said that you would only destroy instead of construct!”

Qi Ziting was astonished after hearing this as he hadn’t expected so many changes to occur in the outside world.

This made him feel rather piqued, and he wanted to go out and see it for himself.

“Did you know that the world’s number one expert, Li Fu, is now in Lan City? He is waiting for me to build him a machine that can take him up to the heavens. He’s someone you can’t defeat!

As such, the ability to construct is far greater than the ability to destroy,” Ren Baqian said unhurriedly.

“Who says I can’t defeat him? If only I still had my legs…” Qi Ziting flew into a rage and smashed the table to pieces with a swat. He reached out for his missing legs with a disappointed look on his face.